Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America

In 1951, twenty-five-year-old William F. Buckley, Jr. published God and Man at Yale, a critical attack on his alma mater that launched him into public prominence. Over the next half century, he shaped a new generation of conservative activists and ideologues, wielding significant political and cultural influence. Ten years before his death in 2008, Buckley selected biographer Sam Tanenhaus to document his life and times, granting extensive interviews and access to private papers. Tanenhaus examines Buckley's multifaceted career: founding editor of National Review, syndicated columnist, Emmy-winning television debater, bestselling spy novelist, and candidate for mayor of New York. He was associated with figures including Joseph McCarthy, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. The biography also explores lesser-known aspects of Buckley's life, including CIA operations in Latin America, connections to Watergate figure Howard Hunt, and his efforts in his final years to maintain conservative unity amid divisions over the AIDS epidemic, culture wars, and the Iraq invasion, while his media enterprises declined.